A Few Brilliant Returns

Rated 4 Stars - Highly recommended

The fact that the Kinks are still around is either inspiring or
appalling, depending on one's point of view. But it's hard to imagine even the
most disillusioned Kinks fan - and Kinks fans have many reasons to be disillusioned -
not being encouraged by To The Bone. The two-disc set is a live
retrospective featuring 26 mostly (though not entirely) acoustic renditions of Kinks
classics and obscurities, and possesses a poignancy and generosity of spirit that
raises it several notches above the standard unplugged-style fare. While
the inexplicable absence of "Waterloo Sunset" is disconcerting, sensitive renditions of relative obscurities
like "Picture Book", "Days", "Do You Remember Walter" and "Death of a Clown" are
enough to strip a decade and a half's tarnish off the band's reputation, and an
update of their early punk anthem "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" carries new resonance
that couldn't have been dreamed of in 1964. The two new studio recordings are somewhat
slight, but sport an unfussed honesty that suggests that the band's future may be
brighter than anyone suspects.